Biography

Pál Schmitt competed at three Olympics as a fencer, winning team épée gold medals in 1968 and 1972. This was but a prelude to a career in sports administration and politics. Schmitt ended his competitive career in 1977. He was secretary-general of the Magyar Olympic Committee from 1983-88 and served as Hungarian Under-Secretary of Sports from 1981-90. He later became a diplomat, serving as Hungary's ambassador to Spain in 1993-97, and Switzerland in 1999-2002, and he was additionally posted to Andorra in 1995.

Schmitt was made an IOC Member in 1983, and later served roles on multiple IOC Commissions, including serving as a member of the Executive Board from 1991-99, and serving four years as an IOC Vice-President, including 1st Vice-President in 1998-99. He was also a member of the Athletes Commission, Study Commission for the Preparation of the Olympic Games, Coordination Commissions for the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Winter Games, Eligibility Commission, Olympic Movement Commission, Olympic Collectors’ Commission, Sport and Environment Commission, and the Council of the Olympic Order.

In 2002 Schmitt ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Budapest. In 2009 he was elected a member of the European Parliament and served as vice-chair of the Committee on Culture and Education. In July 2009 he became a Vice-President of the European Parliament, and in 2010 was named Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary. Later that year he was elected President of Hungary, receiving 263 of 322 Parliamentary votes, and was sworn in in August 2010. He served in that role until April 2012, when he voluntarily resigned.

In 1992 Schmitt earned a doctorate at the Testnevelési Egyetem, or University of Physical Education. In January 2012 he was accused by a Hungarian magazine of having plagiarized his doctor thesis. His academic title was revoked in March 2012 by Semmelweis University, and his Presidential resignation noted that this scandal affected his ability to govern effectively and had divided the country.

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